BCCS
SUMMUM BONUM
English Opening (1.c4)
Thirty Years of the British Correspondence Chess Society
by J. John Mackie, ICCF Arbiter
Email: jjmackie@dynamite.com.au
« History is largely concerned with arranging good entrances for people, and later exists not always so good ».
--- Haywood Broun
Pieces of Hate and Other Enthusiasms
« The past has given British CC the future ».
--- J. John Mackie
OVERVIEW
This is a historical review of the dramatic events that led to the formation and the consequences of the British Correspondence Chess Society (BCCS).
In January 1962 BCCS became formally established as yet another CC organization in Britain. The main objective of the BCCS was to enter a team of strong CC players to compete in the ICCF V Olympiad, Preliminary Groups.
The passionate and at times highly recrminatory debates with the British Chess Federation (BCF), and to a lesser extent with the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) that preceded and followed the formation of BCCS have not yet been fully documented.
This story is based on the writer's eye-witness account. He was the cause and the center storm of what Baruch (Barry) H. Wood, OBE, described as the first chess revolution in Britain. Some of the details may be obscure and other details may be missing because of the difficulty in recalling the exact dates and the persons involved.
PROLOGUE
In 1921 the BCF Executive had formally assumed the responsibility for the organization and administration of the British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC). In 1940 the BCF authorised the BCCA Executive to take over the administration of the Championship. Shortly after this enactment the two organizations set up a Joint Committee to supervise this arrangement which had sometimes been referred to as a «father and step-child» relationship.
In 1945 Barry Wood, the founder, editor and publisher of the monthly magazine CHESS (1935), won the BCCC. His achievement was immediately rewarded by the International Correspondence Chess Association, later ICCF, by electing him as the first British President (1945-50). Barry, an untiring chess organizer and an efficient administrator, had some good ideas about chess being an indivisible whole. From his early days at the Birmingham University Barry believed that the whole game of chess should be free from political intrigues and corruption, and that it should be administered internationally by FIDE. Therefore Barry recommended to the ICCA Board that it become a commission of FIDE. The ICCF Board strongly opposed this proposal for the obvious reason that its popularity began to expand worldwide after the Second World War.
At the 1950 ICCA/ICCF elections Barry was not re-elected President. However, the British influence on the ICCF Board continued. Alan F.Stammwitz, a member of the BCF Executive, became General Secretary of the ICCF (1950-52) and C. Meredith, the ICCF Treasurer. Both these officials continued to support the original Barry Wood policy that ICCF, for the sake of good chess administration, become a commission of FIDE. This situation once again resulted in recurring disputes between the two Britons and some members of the ICCF Board. Consequently Stammwitz resigned his office as General Secretary of the ICCF and Meredith also resigned a short time later. The former was succeeded by Bohuslav Lukas from Czechoslovakia and the latter by Norman Yates from Bury in England.
In later discussions with Barry Wood and Norman Yates, it was revealed that Alan Stammwitz was not so much opposed to the ICCF being a worldwide independent CC Organization as to its being under a strong German influence which orginated in Berlin in December 1928 when the Internationaler Fernschach Bund (IFSB) was officially established and generously supported by Hans Werner von Massow.
With the departure of Stammwitz and Meredith from the ICCF Board, Britain severed all its communication with ICCF, effectively boycotting all international CC tournaments including ICCF team Olympiads. A small number of the British CC players continued to participate in the individual tournaments but they were regarded in Britain as personae non grata.
In 1955 the writer, a member of BCCA with some CC experience, began a friendly game with Dr. Lukas, a self proclaimed Social Democrat who has not been heard of since 1984. Lukas introduced the writer to Erik J. Larsson (Sweden), former ICCF Tournament Director, and one of the hardest working officials for more than half a century (Erik J. Larsson was recently awarded (1998) the ICCF's new Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also the first Honorary Member of ICCF (1957), RPM.) Erik urged on the writer, as he has been doing all his life, to enrol more CC players from Britain to play in the ICCF tournaments. (Erik made the same plea to encourage more Australian players to enter ICCF tournaments when the writer settled in Canberra in 1967.) With such an encouragement the writer entered ICCF Class I section and in no time he was appointed a Tournament Secretary for class I tournaments. Later still he became an ICCF Auditor for a while and a member of the Rules Commission. From the correspondence with Larsson and Lukas the writer learned of the British attempts to change the administration of the ICCF as an independent CC organization. From the writer's point of view it was irrelevant who administered international CC as long as the British CC players were not denied their right to play in the World Teams CC Championships. With the encouragement of other CC players in Britain, the writer decided that the BCF's negative attitude towards the international CC must be changed, but little did he know what lay ahead of him!
Enjoying a good relationship with chess friend the writer sought their support in the campaign to put Britain on the International scene. The response was most encouraging and included advice from Brian Reilly, then editor of the British Chess Magazine, and a participant in the first individual ICCF Championship, Preliminary Groups. He, like Barry Wood, suggested that under the existing circumstances BCCA was the most appropriate organization that should affiliate to ICCF and become active internationally.
In Autumn 1959, shortly before the BCCA AGM, the writer held informal «teach-in» discussions with the BCCA General Secretary. It emerged from these discussions that the BCCA Executive had no objection to the organization of a team of strong CC players with the view of entering the forthcoming ICCF V Olympiad. The Secretary promised to raise this issue at the coming AGM for which the Agenda was already finalised.
Unfortunately the writer was unable to attend the BCCA AGM. To his horror the issue of the BCCA's affilation to ICCF was not disccussed at the AGM. It was quite clear then that the existing relationhsip between the BCF and the BCCA Executives was such that it prevented British CC players from participating in the international team tournaments, therefore an alternative approach had to be developed to achieve the main objective.
Since 1958 the writer was aquainted with Bernard Cafferty, a graduate teacher and formerly editor, and now in retirement, an associate editor of the British Chess Magazine. In 1960 Bernard was about to clinch the British CC Championship and he was also known to be collecting and researching material for his thesis on «Chess and Education». Bernard's enthusiasm for chess excellence motivated the writer to hold discussions with CC players in Britain. From these discussions it was clear that there was a general discontent with the existing CC administration policy. That policy had to be changed.
One of the many meetings was arranged with Peter Dodson, Dr. Michael Furston (now professor), Peter Oakley and other CC enthusiasts. It was soon agreed that 1961 would see a concerted effort from the leading CC players to bring about serious changes in the conservative administration in the country.
This small group of CC players was then supported by former British CC Chmapions S.C. Davy and Frank Parr (father of Peter Parr, The proprietor of Chess Discounts Sales in Sydney). As a result of continuing correspondence with the leading chess players, it was satisfying to receive guaranteed support from Dr. S. Fazekas and Dr. C.S. Hunter. Barry Wood was generous in offering both moral and financial support. On several occasions he provided a free transport for those who were coming to attend various meetings in Birmingham.
The expanded group of the enthusiastic CC players in Britain weighed various alternatives and finally settled on the following scenarios:
- The writer would continue liasing with the ICCF Board and obtain from it an assurance that in the event of the BCCA not being able to affliate, the newly formed CC organization would affliate instead and would also enter a team to play in the ICCF V Olympiad, Preliminary Groups.
- A team to represent Britain in the ICCF V Olympiad was nominated and it consisted of:
Board 1: Dr. S. Fazekas (IM 1952), British OTB Champion 1957
Board 2: Dr. C.S. Hunter, 1961 Joint BCC Champion with S.C.Davy
Board 3: P.J. Oakley, BCC Champion 1958
Board 4: B. Cafferty, BCC Champion 1960
Board 5: S.C. Davy, BCC Champion 1957 and 1961 Joint Champion
Board 6: F. Parr, BCC Champion 1950, 1956 and Joint Champion with G. Wood 1948 and with Israel 1949.
Team Captain: J. John Mackie
The ICCF Board confirmed that the new CC organization, to be known as the British Correspondence Chess Society, would be welcomed as an affiliated member of the ICCF and would therefore be entitled to enter a team into the forthcoming ICCF V Olympiad, Prelimnary groups.
The BCCA Executive was approached with these scenarios and was urged to affiliate to the ICCF and approve the selected Olympiad team. The BCCA Executive had little time for lengthy meetings and debates because of the pending closing date for the Olympiad entries, being 31 December 1961.
The BCCA Executive referred the proposals to the BCF Executive for approval. The response from the BCF Executive was immediate and brutal in its overriding decision. It refused to accept the BCCA proposed affilation to ICCF and also refused to sanction the selected team. Intead it invoked the authority of the previously established BCF/BCCA Joint Committee to select a more «REPRESENTATIVE TEAM» for the forthcoming ICCF V Olympiad. The BCF/BCCA JOINT Committee was said to have held in camera and three members of the selected Olympiad team were replaced by:
- C.H.O'D. Alexander on the ground that he was a strong CC player.
- C. Kottnauer, a naturalised Czech, on the ground that he won CC Championhsip of Czechoslovakia; and
- C.W. Warburton on the ground that in the preceding ten years he had not lost a single CC game.
D.H. Butler was selected as a Team Captain replacing John Mackie on the ground that Mackie did not have any experience as a Director of CC and that he did not enjoy the confidence of the originally selected team.
None of the three players nor David Butler were consulted prior to being selected by the BCF/BCCA Joint Committee. The newly selected team was announced soon after the BCCA AGM 1961. Alexander refused to play making a public statment that he never played CC. Kottnauer also refused to be considered stating that he was not a former CC Champion of Czechoslovakia. On the other hand Warburton was prepared to play as a member of the team. Apparently he played in Ward Higgs Trophy, one game a year, winning some of the games and drawing the others. Warburton was not a BCCS member.
David Butler did not wish to get involved in the explosive situation, saying that he was quite contented being the BCF Counties CC Championship Conductor and did not seek additional work!
The other three players in the originally selected team who were not replaced by the BCF/BCCA Joint Committee refused to play for the BCF on the ground that they had already agreed to play for the BCCS team captained by John Mackie, thereby they showed up the BCF/BCCA's untrue statement that they did not have any confidence in their captain. Consequently neither the BCF nor the BCCA were able to field a team to play in the ICCF V Oympaid.
The BCCS administration then confirmed its application for affilation to the ICCF and also re-submitted its original team of six players, two reserve payers and a captain.
To complete the necessary paper work to and from the ICCF Board a short period of time had to elapse and it is for this reason that the BCCS is officially recorded as having been established in January 1962, whereas it was informally in existence for several months earlier.
The beginning of 1962 saw not only the BCCS members reacting angrily to the BCF/BCCA alliance which deprived most of the top CC players from competing in international tournaments, but also other chess players in the country, both OTB and CC, sought fundamental changes in the administration and the structure of chess in Britain. Calls were heard from time to time for the resignation of both the BCF and the BCCA Executives with the view of saving chess democracy from short-sighted autocratic zealots. Many members of chess clubs in the country wanted a more forward looking and long term planning chess administration, more so as Britain at that time had no hope of producing a grandmaster, whereas other countries with lower population and far more limited opportunities had already grandmasters on the FIDE and later on the ICCF ranking lists. Thus, the search for chess truth was intensified.
In the meantime the BCCS, as an organization, was progressing from strength to strength. Its influence was felt throughout the country, partly as a result of a regular publication of its monthly NEWSLETTER and partly because it demonstrated that chess democracy had been reborn. The CC games played by the BCCS team in the ICCF V Olympiad were recorded, move by move, in a small notebook which was then forwarded from one player to another. This was being done every three months and the innovation made a better understanding of various openings played by top CC players in the world. This was a useful teaching method which was regularly referred to in the NEWSLETTER. Several years later, the late John Kellner used a similar approach, when he was commenting, move by move, on his famous game with Victor Zagorovsky in the Sydney Sunday Mirror 1967.
There were many complimentary comments received by the BCCS administration not only from the players all alike, but also from the few sane chess administrators in Britain and overseas. A significant initiative towards enriching British CC chess was taken by Reg the late J. Potter, Secretary of the Social Correspondence Chess Association. Reg and the writer enjoyed good relationship for several years before the formation of the BCCS. Both of us shared similar interests at that time in the Larsen opening with which Reg scored several victories against some of the strongest players, both OTB and in CC. Without reservation Reg agreed with the suggestion that other CC organizations in Britain should be invited to discuss the possibility of the formation of a coordinated national CC organization that would be responsible for all CC administration in the country. This idea was further developed by BCCS members, particularly by Peter Dodson. Michael Furston, Peter Oakley and other enthusiastic players. There was an overwhelming repsonse from the CC organisatins in Britain to the idea of creating a united organisation, preferably to be known as a federation. It was quickly agreed that a meeting of all CC representatives should be called to discuss this proposition. The BCCA, being the largest CC organisation felt that it should assume the mantle of a CC federation. However, the anger that was clearly demonstrated by the members of other CC organisations towards the BCCA support for the BCF roughshod practices caused the idea to be rejected.
There was no secrecy in the CC organisations in Britain wanting to establish a CC federation. However, without a warning the BCF Executive like a wounded animal, struck back with vengeance. It claimed that under its own charter it enjoyed the absolute authority for the organisation and administration of chess activities in Britain. In this context the BCF Executive announced the formation of a STANDING SUBCOMMITTE for correspondence chess. The BCCA was given a leading role in organising a meeting of the representatives of interested CC organisations to be held in London on 2 June 1962. At that meeting the BCCS administration was represented by its founder, Secretary Peter Oakley, assisted by the writer who provided advice on various administrative aspects of international correspondence chess.
The meeting was chaired by the BCF President. He declared that there was a need for a review and for streamlining CC administration in Britain and that the proposed STANDING SUBCOMMITTE would include representatives from the BCF Executive and they would also provide the necessary administration. The names of the BCF representatives were then submitted to the meeting. Without too much of an exaggeration there occurred a spontaneous uproar and a heated and acrimonious debate ensued. The Chairman had a great difficulty in controlling the meeting. A call was made for the Chairman to step down, but there was no brave enough person to second it. The majority of the reprsentatives objected firstly to the proposed STANDING SUBCOMMITTEE being responsible for the increasingly important administrative aspects of CC in Britain. Their second objection, perhaps even stronger than the first, was against the BCF representatives assuming the leading role on the SUBCOMMITTEE.
It was also claimed that the BCF Executive was prepared to staff the SUBCOMMITTEE with its faithful sons who would follow party line! The majority of the representatives demanded that a CC federation be formally established there and then. The Chairman realised that the meeting had become hostile and was getting out of hand, therefore he proposed to adjourn to a later date so that the representatives could return to their organisations and report on the deicsions made so far! This harebrained escapade did not work because there was nothing yet decided. Accusations of delaying tactics and disregard for the rights of the British CC players were directed at the BCF Executive.
Following a plea for calmess, Peter Oakley proposed that a correspondence chess federation be formalised forthwith. Reg Potter, representing the Social CC Association, amended the motion that the federation be known as the BRITISH POSTAL CHESS FEDERATION(BPCF). The motion was carried by six votes to two, both BCF and the BCCA representatives voting against it.
A considerable amount of time was consumed on many unimportant procedures and all of us wanted to go home! However, another motion was put from the floor that called upon the representatives to convene, as a matter of urgency, an inaugural meeting to formalise the establishment of the BPCF and to consider a draft constitution. All CC organizations were invited to submit inputs for a draft constitution which was to be collated and presented to the inaugural meeting.
The BCCA representative requested that the inaugural meeting be held the following BCCA AGM which was scheduled for the late Autumn. This clever ploy was intended to delay the formation of the BPCF as much as possible. Eventually the proposal was agreed to, basically because no other representative wished to engage in yet another emotional marathon debate. It was then agreed to hold the inaugural meeting on 1 December 1962. This deliberate delay, however, would give the prospective member organizations sufficient time to make submissions for the structure and for the draft constitution of the Federation.
The 1962 BCCA AGM chaired by David Bulter, was attended by a large number of the members. At that AGM there were also many acrimonious debates so much so that the retiring BCCA Executive was not re-elected. A tradition had been broken. T. Vaughan Williams, a likeable and respected person from Warwick, was elected the new BCCA President. The retiring Secretary was heard saying that the «AGM was a takeover bid». This remark received the appropriate reprimand and it was withdrawn.
At this stage the reader may be forgiven for thinking that the BCF Executive had learned a good lesson and would allow CC players in the country to organize their own affairs and decide their chessical future. This was not to be. Following the BCCA AGM the BCF Executive announced the establishment of its own STANDING SUBCOMMITTEE for CC in Britain! This was totally contrary not only to the London agreement of 2 June 1962, but also to the subsequent inter-organizational planning involving both the structure of the proposed BPCF and the drafting of the Federation's constitution.
The response from the CC organizations to the BCF Executive sabotage was swift and resolute. Being now very angry with the BCF Executive for its deception, the CC organizations called the previously planned inaugural meeting on 1 December 1962. The meeting resolved that there shall be a BPCF to be responsible for all CC administration in the country. T. V. Williams was elected President of the Federation, perhaps in honour of his also being the new BCCA President. The Secretary was Reg Potter and later B.H. Wood became Federation's Treasurer.
The meeting closed with a great relief and satisfaction that at long last British CC was free from the previously burdensome shackles. There was a lot of work to be done from the beginning of 1963 if the Federation were to demonstrate that it would be a better adminstrator of CC than its predecessors The Federation embarked on regular meetings, most of which were held at Reg Potter's residence in Birmingham not only because of the convenient venue, but also because Reg offered a most generous hospitality! These meetings were invariably preceded by weekend policy discussions between T.V. Williams, Reg Potter and the writer. Some of the BPCF meetings were held in London and Reg Potter always provided free transport from Birmingham and en route to London we would pick up T.V. Williams at Warwick.
Apart from a number of irrelevant remarks that were occasionally made by the disgruntled «chess administrators» that the smaller members of the BPCF enjoyed equal rights, the Federation was making an excellent progress. It affliated to ICCF and also to BCF. The Federation's affilation to ICCF automatically cancelled BCCS affilation because at that time only one CC organization from a country could affiliate. Since then the situation has changed and at the time of writing there are three CC organizations from Britain affiliated to ICCF. They are England, Scotland and Wales.
In 1964 the Federation assumed total responsibility for the administration of the British Correspondence Chess Championship. As the BCCS team was making execellent progress in the ICCF V Olympiad, the BPCF Executive decreed that in the event of the BCCS team qualifying, it would continue unchanged. The team did qualify, but unfortunately Peter Oakley on board 3, was unable to continue playing for Britain for health reasons. His place was taken over by Mike Wills who distinguished himself in the ICCF tournaments, including the individual ICCF V Semifinals.
The CC players who represented BPCF in the ICCF tournaments distinguished themselves beyond imagination. The ICCF IX Olympiad Final was won by the BPCF team, ahead of West Germany and the Soviet Union.
Further, the Federation, like all ICCF affiliates, was entitled to nominate its quota of players to the ICCF semifinals. The nominated players also distinguished themselves there so much so that currently there are six ICCF GMs and ten ICCF IMs in Britain, including one woman IM. Dr. Jonathan Penrose, ten times British OTB Champion and an ICCF GM has been at the top of the ICCF ranking for a number of years. In the individual XIII World CC Championship he has attained third place with 11/16 points behind the winner M.M. Umasky with 13 points, and in the second place E. Bang with 11 &189;. These results constitute an unrefutable evidence that Britain, under honest and skilled administration, achieved great success in the field of national and international correspondence chess. This would not have been possible without the hard work, sacrifices, well defined goals, determination and a strong belief in the good nature of honest men.
EPILOGUE
The success of the BCCS team in the ICCF V Olympiad, Preliminary Groups, earned Dr. Fazekas an IM title on Board 1 where he had a had tussle with the late John Kellner of Australia.
In the late sixties Peter Oakley migrated to Australia (NSW) for a while, but he did not play CC here. On his return to England he resumed serious CC and won the prestigious Zollner Trophy on six occasions and was awarded the IM title in October 1982. Unfortunately for him and his family, Peter became acutely ill in October 1989 and died in hospital aged 58 years. His contribution to CC, nationally and internationally was momumental. Here is one of his short games from the ICCF V Semifinals, 1962-1965. White: Peter Oakley (England)
Black: Y. Shaposhnikov (Soviet Union)
English Opening A19
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.d4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qe4 d6 8.Nf3 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Nf6 10.Qe2 dxe5 11.Qxe5 Bd6 12.Qb5+ Bd7 13.Qxb7 Rb8 14.Qf3 Qc7 15.Bd3 Bc6 16.Qh3 Bf4 17.0-0 Bxc1 18.Raxc1 Rxb2 19.Nb5! Qf4 20.Nxa7 Be4 21.Bxe4 Nxe4 22.Qa3! Rd2
Black can now resign!
23.Nc6 Kd7 24.Rb1 1-0.
If 24...Qc7 25.Ne5+
In September 1963 the BCCS Team Captain was appointed by the BPCF Executive a delegate to attend the ICCF Congress in Dubrovnik. There he assured the Congress of the full, rational and friendly cooperation from BPCF and promised Erik Larsson that from then on the British participation in ICCF tournaments would not only increase, but that it would be remembered for many years to come!
The BCCS administration later introduced a new policy to allow all interested CC players to join the organization and participate in various tournaments. The monthly NEWSLETTER continued its publication with contributions from many sources, but particularly from founder members Bernard Cafferty, Ken Massere, Mike Wills and others.
At present there are approximately 300 BCCS members who participate in the national and international CC tournaments. The President is Keith Richardson, ICCF GM, ably supported by Vice President Reg Gillman who is also the long sufffering Editor of the popular bimonthly magazine Chess Post.
Reg died suddenly in London in October 1998 while taking his regular walk. A great loss to cc.
«That ends this strange eventful history» - Shakespeare in As You Like It.
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